"It is not publicly appropriate that a Knesset member who had been indicted for severe corruption would receive the mandate to form a cabinet and serve as prime minister," the Supreme Court said Wednesday in the arguments of its decision not to ban Prime Minister Netanyahu from forming a coalition.
The court said that although it could not see any legal reason to prevent the task of forming a government from being given to Netanyahu that 'the dismissal of the petition “does not make it appropriate in the public aspect.'"
Judge Anat Baron said about the mandate being given to Netanyahu that, "one cannot deny that the formation of a cabinet by an individual facing a serious indictment does not coincide with the fundamental principles of Israeli democracy, particularly the loyalty and integrity of the authority, alongside the public trust in it.
"With that in mind,” she continued, “judicial involvement in the wish of the majority of Knesset members to give the mandate to form a government to a particular Knesset member holds a critical blow to the principle of the majority's sovereignty that lies at the very heart of democracy itself. Therefore, balancing these two powers, the respect for the wish of the majority overcomes."
Judge Menachem Mazuz said that "the reality in which a defendant facing serious corruption charges forms and heads a government creates moral and public difficulty that cannot be overestimated. Such a reality mirrors a social crisis and a moral flaw of the Israeli society and political system."
The judges also said they would order to ban the modified Norwegian Law, were it brought to the daily agenda.
"Such an amendment constitutes an attempt to personally and retrospectively change the outcome of the election after the election, while essentially breaching the right to vote and be elected,” the statement by the court said.
The judges also criticized the significant weakening of the opposition's status in the coalition agreement, saying that "the status of the opposition in the Knesset is, too, an important aspect of our democratic regime."
Netanyahu's Likud Party criticized the judges' statements: “The citizens of Israel elected Prime Minister Netanyahu with an enormous majority, with Likud receiving the largest number of votes a political party ever got in the history of the country."
They described his win as “a huge victory for the leader of the Right and an unequivocal show of confidence in him.
“In a democracy, citizens vote in the polls and elect the prime minister,” the statement continued. “Whoever wants to replace the prime minister can run for office and let the citizens make the choice themselves."